Shock absorber assembly for portable electric flashlights



Patented Sept. 8, 1953 SHOCK ABSGRBER ASSEMBLY FOR PORT- ABLE ELECTRC FLASHLIGHTS Leopold C. Grimsley, New York, N. Y., assignor to Henry Hyman, New York, N. Y.

Application December 3, 1947, Serial No. 789,513

11 Claims.

This invention relates to portable electric ilashlights and, more particularly, is concerned with a shock absorber assembly which is used to provide a resilient contact for the central terminal of an electric flashlight lamp. Even more specifically, the invention is concerned with an improved means for holding in place a coil spring which acts as the resilient contact and with the method for incorporating said holding means in the shock absorber assembly.

As a general rule, shock absorber assemblies are employed in connection with portable electric flashlights which have no internal partitions. Where an internal partition is used, a

battery loaded in the flashlight hits against the I' partition but when the partition is omitted, a battery dropped into the casing would strike the central terminal of the lamp if no safeguard such as a shock absorber assembly were provided.

In essence, a shock absorber assembly comprises abushing which is secured in some conventional manner to a flashlight reflector and is provided with suitable means to at least partially house,

i. e. cover, the base of the lamp. The leg of an n lamp and in electrical contact with a rivet or like stationary electrically-conductive member which is carried by the bushing and has a part disposed in a position where it can be abutted by the central terminal of the uppermost battery in the flashlight casing. With this arrangement, if a battery is dropped in the casing and allowed to strike sharply against the rivet, the resulting shock is not transmitted to the lamp.

Although shock absorber assemblies are highly desirable for the foregoing reason, considerable diiiiculty has been experienced commercially with their constructions and incorporation in flashlights. One shock absorber includes a tapered coil spring which is tted loosely in the bushing. This type of shock absorber is easy to assemble but the spring can fall out accidentally and be lost when lamps are changed. Once the spring is lost, the flashlight is useless. Another kind of shock absorber uses a tapered coil spring which is tted tightly in the bushing to prevent the spring from becoming loose. However, such a spring is extremely diicult to mount in proper position. Another ashlight employs a coil spring which tapers toward both ends and is frictionally held in the bushing. This spring, also, is difficult to mount and, furthermore, tends to tip sideways. Still another shock absorber uses a ilat spring which is bent into an L-shape and is secured in the bushing by a rivet extending through an aperture in one of the legs of the L. After mounting, the other leg of the L is bent to an acute angle with respect to the rst leg. Such a spring requires two bending operations and, after bending, is quite fragile. Yet another shock absorber uses a cylindrical coil spring which is irictonally held in the bushing. This spring, like the frictionally held springs mentioned above, is hard to mount and involves a relatively expensive and not always satisfactory assembly.

In addition to the foregoing, the springs employed had all or most of their length within the well of the bushing as a result of which a fairly long bushing had to be used.

It is an object o the present invention to provide a shock absorbed assembly which avoids all the foregoing defects by including a shock absorber spring iirmly and captively held in place with a means which is easy to assemble.

It is another object of the invention to provide a shock absorber assembly in which the spring is received in an opening extending through the base of the bushing so that the length of the bushing may be reduced.

It is an additional object of the invention to provide a shock absorber assembly comprising relatively few and simple parts and which is rugged and eicient in operation.

Other objects of 'the invention will in part be obvious and in part be pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exempliiied in the constructions hereinafter described and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

n the accompanying drawings in which are shown various possible embodiments of the invention,

Fig. l is a side View of a flashlight partially broken away to show the shock absorber assembly which is constructed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 2N2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary View similar to Fig. l of the head only of a flashlight embodying a modied form of the invention;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical central secti ne. through a shock absorber assembly embed another form of the invention; and

Fig. 5 is a bottom View in partial section ci said assembly.

Essentially, the several objects of this intention are achieved by providing the shock absorber bushing with a through aperture in its base wail and disposing a lower portion of an electricalh1 conductive shock absorber spring in said aperture. The upper end of the spring is located above the base wall of the bushing and is sm r across than the upper end of the aperture. jacent its bottom, the spring has a laterally tending portion which projects outwardly to point beyond the sides of the upper end of aperture so that it will prevent the spring: nin being drawn upwardly through said aperture. An

with the spring,r when the spring is compressed. Said member is secured permanently to the bushing, as by providing this member with or the like integral extensions which pass through o ings in the base of the bushing and are turned over and clinched against the interior oi bushing.

Referring now in detail to the dr reference numeral Hi denotes a i'iash is conventional in all respects save for the sh absorber assembly l2. Said flashlight cr a molded casing irl oi' synthetic resin, suc 35 instance, as ethyl cellulose. The casing is at both ends and is adapted to house iiashiight batteries l5. rShe lower end of the casing vided with a female thread il on which ternally-tapped bottom cap E8 is screwed. Said cap is provided with an annular shoulder' to seat a tapered helical battery compression spring The lower end or" the spring has an inturr ed leg 2li which engages a metal ferrule Z6 rivetcd to the casing at the lower end thereof. Said 4,; rule is in contact with a metal strip 2B running longitudinally of the casing l@ and lying against the interior surface thereof. The strip Et is cow nected by a rivet Si) to a conventional manuallyoperable flashlight switch 32 disposed on the eX- terior of the casing. This switch controls energization. of another metal strip 3f? which runs from said switch towards the upper end of casing and terminates in a resilient ringer Said upper end of the iiashlight is formed with a female thread 318 in order to have screwed thereon a lens cap lie. Said cap clamps a transparent plastic disc i2 against the upper rim of the casing. Rubber washers M., are

interposed between the lens cap and plastic disc and between the plastic disc and upper rim of the ilashlight casing.

The lens cap also `holds in place a metal reflector i8 having an upper lia-nge 5d caught be- 'tween the lower washer 45 and the upper rim of the flashlight casing. The center of the reflector is formed with a shallow recess 52 whose base is provided with an opening larger than the eri-- velope 54 of a flashlight lamp 56, said lamp being of the push or pre-focus type with a smooth side wall on its base. The inturned base flange 58 resulting from the provision of the central opening has secured thereto, as by clinching, downwardly extending ferrule Si) in which a threaded portion 62 `is impressed. This portion receives a threaded bushing 64 of an electrically 4 non-conductive material, such as a plastic, the bushing being adapted to clamp the flange G6 of the pre-focus lamp against the shoulder at the upper end of the ferrule.

Said bushing is a component of the shock absorber assembly and, pursuant to the present invention, has a base wall 63 in which there is formed a through central aperture if). A light upwardly-tapering coiled compression spring l2, longer than the base is thick, is located in said aperture. The aperture is tapered upwardly at about the same angle of inclination as the taper of the spring 72.

eter or the top of said spring whereby the spring. when inserted from the bottom, small end first. as shown, can be pushed partially through the aperture so that the top end thereof extends into the space Within the bushing 5d when the bottom end abuts the sloped walls of the aperture. Optionally, the lower end of the aperture has a (ii-- ameter about equal to the diameter of the lower' end of the spring so that this end of the spring. is approximately flush with the bottom Surface of the bushing when the spring is in place.

Means is provided to hold the spring in the aforementioned position. Such means constitutes a metal disc M which is placed over the lower end or" the aperture 'IU in contact with the bottom surface of the bushing. Said disc is formed with two integral ears Ti, 'i8 which vare turned upwardly, as best shown in Fig. l, for passage through a pair of slots St molded in the bottom wall of the bushing. The upturned portions of the ears extend through the slots and the tips thereof are turned over to lie against the internal surface of the bushing.

The various parts of the shock absorber are assembled as follows. The springr l2 is introduced into the aperture T6 with the bushing upside down. Then the disc I4 is placed on the upturned portion of the bushing with the ears 16, i8 projecting through the slots 80. The bushing now is set on a xture which extends into the bore of the bushing and has an anvil part adapted to contact the protruding tips of the ears i6, 18. Finally, the disc is struck smartly with a hammer cr the like to press protruding parts of the ears against the anvil so that they will be turned to iie against the interior surface of the bushing.

It will be appreciated that this assembly operation is very fast and simple and, furthermore, it will be seen that the completed shock absorber assembly rmly and captively retains the spring in place.

In the modified form of the invention shown in Fig. 3, all the parts which are similar to the parts illustrated in Fig. l are denoted by the vsame reference numerals. This secondY form or" the invention diiers from the orm first describe-d principally in that a diierent kind of shock absorber spring is employed. The shock absorber spring shown in Fig. 3 has its upper turns 'of the saine diameter so that this upper .portion 'of the spring comprises a light cylindrical coiled compression spring. The lower turn '92, however, is of increased diameter. rlhe aperture 94 in the base wall 58 of the-bushing -Elt is of a uniform diameter slightly larger than that of the upper turns of the spring and smaller than the diameter' of the lowermost turn of the spring. This arrangement allows the upper turns of the spring to be disposed in and extend above the aperture Siri while the spring is prevented from The upper end of the aperture is smaller' across than the diameter of the baseI of the spring l2 and larger across than the diam-4 slipping upwardly through the aperture by the large lower turn 92.

The spring is held in place by a disc 96 which does not contact the bottom surface of the bushing as does the disc 14 but rather lies against the lowermost turn 92 of the disc 14 but rather lies against the lowermost turn 92 of the spring and clamps said turn between the disc and the bottom surface of the bushing. Said disc is provided with integral ears 98 which extend through the slots 3e in the base of the bushing and have their tips turned to lie against the interior surface of the bushing so that the disc is clamed in place.

ln Figs. 4 and 5, there is shown a form of the invention in which a bulls-eye lamp, i. e. one having a screw base, is employed. In addition, these figures illustrate a modified form of mounting for the shock absorber spring. The lamp i!) seen in said gures has a base shell I 02 on which a thread is formed. Said shell is screwed into the threaded portion of a ferrule |64 having an outwardly directed flange clamped on the flange 58 of the reflector. The ferrule has screwed on it an enveloping bushing IDE which is part of the shock absorber assembly.

A through aperture |08 is centrally located in the base Elli of said bushing. This aperture is formed in two parts, to wit, an upper part Hi and a lower concentric part l I2 which is of larger diameter than the upper part. A light coiled compression spring H4 is disposed in the aperture. The upper part of said spring, comprising several turns, is of a uniform diameter slightly less than the diameter of the upper part IH] of the aperture. The lowermost turn of the spring has an outwardly projecting leg H5 which abuts against the shoulder between the two parts of the aperture. With this arrangement, the bottom of the spring can be fully seated Within the aperture and not extend beyond the aperture as in the assembly illustrated in and described with respect tc Fig. 3. The spring is captively held in position by a disc l l@ having ears H8 disposed in slots il@ in the base wall of the bushing. The tips of the slots are inturned and clinched against the interior surface of the bushing.

It thus will be seen that there are provided shock absorber assemblies which'achieve the several objects of the invention and are well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiments above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein described, or shown in the accompanying drawings, is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described the invention, there is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent:

1. For use in a ilashlight, a shock absorber assembly including a bushing having a base wall provided with a through aperture, an electrically conductive coil spring extending bodily through said aperture with a lower portion disposed in the aperture and its upper end projecting above the Lipper end of the aperture, said upper end of the spring being smaller across than the upper end of the aperture, said spring including a portion adjacent its bottom which extends laterally outwardly to a point beyond the sides of the upper end of said aperture whereby to limit by abutment upward movement of the spring through the aperture, an electrically conductive element spanning the lower end of said aperture and in electrical contact with the spring, and means to permanently secure said element to said bushing.

2. For use in a flashlight, a shock absorber including a bushing havin-g a base wall provided with a through aperture, an electrically conductive coil spring extending bodily through said aperture with a lower portion disposed in the aperture and the upper end projecting above the upper end of the aperture, said upper end of the spring being smaller across than the upper end of the aperture, said spring inclu-ding a portion adjacent its bottom which is wider across than the upper end of the aperture, whereby to limit by abutment upward movement of the spring through the aperture, an electrically conductive element spanning the lower end of said aperture and in electrical contact with the spring, and means to permanently secure said element to said bushing.

3. For use in a flashlight, a shock absorber assembly including a bushing having a base wall provided with a through aperture, an electrically conductive coil spring extending bodily through said aperture with a lower portion disposed in the aperture and its upper end projecting above the upper end of the aperture, said upper end of the spring being smaller across than the upper end of the aperture, said spring including a portion adjacent its bottom which extends laterally outwardly to a point beyond the sides of the upper end of said aperture whereby to limit by abutment upward movement of the spring through the aperture, and an electrically conductive element spanning the lower end of said aperture and in electrical contact with the spring, said element including means to permanently secure said element to said bushing.

4. For use in a ilashlight, a shock absorber assembly including Ia bushing having a base wall provided with a through aperture, an electrically conductive coil spring extending bodily through said aperture with a lower portion disposed in the aperture and its upper end projecting above the upper end of the aperture, said upper end of the spring being smaller across than the upper end of the aperture, said spring including a portion adjacent its bottom which extends laterally outwardly to a point beyond the sides of the upper end of said aperture whereby to limit by abutment upward movement of the spring through the aperture, and an electrically conductive element spanning the lower end of said aperture and in electrical contact with the spring, said element including integral extensions which pass through openings in the base wall of the bushing and are turned over and clinched against the interior of the bushing.

5. For use in a ilashlight, a shock absorber assembly including a bushing having .a base wall provided with a through aperture whose upper end is narrower across than its lower end, an electrically conductive coil spring extending bodily through said aperture with a lower portion disposed in the aperture and its upper end projecting above the upper end of the aperture, said upper end of the spring being smaller across than the upper end of the aperture, said spring including a portion adjacent its bottom which extends laterally outwardly to a point beyond the sides of the upper end of said aperture whereby to limit by abutment upward movement of the spring through the aperture, an electrically conductive element spanning the lower end of said 7, aperture and in electrical contact with the spring, and means to permanently secure said element. to said bushing.

6. For use in a flashlight, a shock absorber assembly including a .bushing having a base wall provided with a through .aperture the` walls whereof converge upwardly, van electrically con. ductive coil spring extending bodily through said aperture with a lower portion disposed in ,the aperture and its.v upper end plfojeetuig above the. upper end of the aperture. seid upper end ofY the spring being smaller across .than the upper 4end of the aperture, seid. spring including a portion adjacent its. bottom .extends laterally outwardly to. a. pointbeyond .the sides o f the. upper end. of seid aperture wherebyto limit by abut.- rnent upward movement .or the spring through the. oper-ture en electrically conductive element spanning the lower end oi .said aperture and in electr-ical Contact' with. the spring, and means. to. permanently secure said element to said bush- 111g.

7. por use in a flashlight, el shocl; absorber esseinoly including .e b. .Shing having a nase wall provided with a .through aperture the walls whereof Converse upward-ly, en upwardlytepore ing eleetronlly Conductive oollel compression Spring extending bodily through seid aperture with e lower por n disposed the aperture and its upper end projecting ebove the upper end or". the aperture, said. upper end of the being spiel-ler across. then. the upper end of the aperture and the lower end of seid sY ing being wider eoroes. than. the upper. end of seid aperture., an eleotrioellr conductive element spanning, the, lower end of said aperture and in elecreal contoot with. the spring, and n.1. secure Seid. element to, said bushing..

8. For use in a ashlight, `a shoclsadsorber assemply including e bushing .having e base Well provided with e. through aperture the. walls. whereof converge upwardly, all, upward-ly tapering electrically conductive ooi-led Compression spring extending bodily through said aperture with. a lower-portion disposed Vin the. apertureand its upper end projecting above the, upper end of the sportwereld upper end of the spring. being smaller across.. than .the upper end; of theaperture and the lower end .of said. spring being wider. across than the upper.- end of said aperture, the lower end of seid spring. being approximately as wide as the lower end of said aperture, an electrically conductive element; spanning the lower end of said aperture and in electrical Contact with the spring, and means to permanently secure said element to said bushing.

9. For use in a flashlight, a shook absorber eis..-` sembly including a bushing having a base wall provided with a through aperture of uniform diameter, an electricallyv conductive coil spring extending bodily through said aperture, the upper portion of -said spring being of uniform diameter slightly less vthan the diameter of said aperture and the lower portion of said spring having a part thereof extending laterally outwardly beyond the diameter of said aperture, the upper portion of said spring being longer than the length of said aperture so that said upper portion projects above the upper end of the aperture when the lower portion of theA spring abuts against the bushing, an electrically conductive element spanningthe lower end of said aperture and in electrical contact with the spring, and means to permanently secure said element yto said bushing.

10. A shock: absorber assembly, as set forth in claim 9, wherein the. outwardly extending lower portion of the spring abuts against the bottom surface of the bushing and is clamped between said surface and the electrically conductive element.

11. For use in va ilashlight, a shock absorber assembly including a bushing having a base wall provided with a through aperture, said aperture including an upper portion .and va lower portion, said portions being vconcentrically arranged and the upper portion being of lesser diameter than the lower portion, anelectrically conductive coil spring extending bodily through said aperture with the lower portion ,disposed in the aperture its upper end projecting above .the upper end ofthe aperture, said upper end of: the spring being smaller across thanV the. upper portion of the aperture, vsaid spring'ineludng a portion adjacent its bottomwhich extends-laterally outwardly to a point beyond the Sides ofthe upper portion of said aperture, whereby to limit by abutment upward movement of the, spring through the aperture, an electrically conductive element spanning the lower end of the bottom portion of said aperture and in electrical contact with the spring, and means to permanently secure said element to said bushing,

LEOPOLD C. GRIMSLEY.

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